minigallery: PromISSe mission: launch preparations in Baikonur

Launch of the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft with ESA's André Kuipers with Don Pettit from NASA and Oleg Kononenko from Russia is scheduled for 21 December 2011. The preparations for the liftoff are going ahead at the Baikonur cosmodrome following the traditions that have been part of every human space mission from Baikonur for decades, with roots going back to Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering 1961 flight.

These photos show the crew, busy with the final preparations for their mission.